Seeking out a Counsellor probably isn’t on anyone’s bucket list and the prospect of asking for help or divulging your private thoughts to a stranger can feel daunting and scary.Feeling comfortable with the right therapist is essential and it is the relationship and connection between client and therapist that facilitates respect, trust, and feeling understood, in terms of what your world and life feels like for you. My training as an Integrative Counsellor reflects the needs of the individual, integrating different approaches in a way that best suits the person I am working with.

Who is counselling for?

Life events can create much turmoil, whether from past or current relationship / experiences. A break-up in relationship, the loss of somebody close, work place stress, a lack of control can lead to a feeling of helplessness and anxiety, depression and a loss of confidence.You may be dealing with a difficult issue alone with seemingly no way out, be tired of holding a secret or having to behave in a certain way. Alternatively you may not be feeling yourself and can’t pinpoint why, feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger or depression can be triggered and come to the surface when we least expect it.

How does Counselling help?

At times when we feel stuck, overwhelmed and confused we sometimes benefit from a different type of support apart from what friends and family can provide. Counselling can help you to get through those times by developing insight into how you feel about yourself and how you relate to others. This unique process helps you to develop enhanced self-awareness and supports you to discover and strengthen your inner resources, empowering you to make changes in your day to day life.

Seeking counselling does not mean you are going crazy or are weak. In fact taking this step has shown strength and initiative to recognise that you want to stop feeling the way that you do. Counselling provides a non-judgemental and safe space to feel heard and restore hope and trust at times when you may feel nobody fully understands how you are feeling.

About me

I am a warm and down to earth Integrative Counsellor with much life experience and like you do not exist in a perfect life. No matter how strong, independent and ‘together’ we think we are we all have times in our lives that are challenging and take us off balance. My training enables me to support you to gain insight and awareness into what has caused this imbalance and supports you to become empowered in dealing with the situation you may be struggling with to regain control of your feelings and behaviour.

I work in a collaborative way, facilitating the autonomy of the client. This allows for you to shape the depth and pace of your exploration, whether these be deep rooted feelings from your past that you have previously been ‘unbearable’ to face, yet continue to cast a shadow on your present life, or a current situation where you feel you want to be free to make different choices. I possess a sense of calmness and genuineness and this creates a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space for you to feel heard, to sensitively explore your journey and support you to work through what is distressing you. I believe in integrity empowerment and building your self- belief. I will support you to realise your own resources, develop strategies to draw upon in the future enabling you to reflect, manage perspectives and to achieve a healthier and happier outcome.

Emotional distress can arise both from the influences of our early childhood attachments in addition to the stresses of everyday life. Prior to becoming a counsellor I worked for 15 years within the fast-paced, continually-changing corporate world of local government as a senior manager, witnessing and experiencing how stress and anxiety in these environments affects people at all levels. Having trained as a Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist I am able to draw on techniques which are proven to be effective for treating anxiety and depression. I can support you through the negative, overwhelming and often debilitating feelings that anxiety and depression can cause assisting you to move forward with positivity and a renewed and fresh outlook on life.

Qualifications

I am a BACP Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist. MBACP[Accred]. I am a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and adhere to their Code of Ethics for good practice and have regular supervision. I have full Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance.

I trained in London and have:

Advanced Diploma in Integrative Humanistic Counselling [Adv, Dip]

Diploma in Integrative Humanistic Counselling

Certificate in Humanistic Counselling

Further training in:

Time limited counselling

Psychiatry, Psychopathology and Psychodynamics

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Eating Disorders

Anxiety and panic disorders

Insomnia

I am also a Qualified Cognitive Behaviour hypnotherapist [Dip CBH].

Experience

My work has enabled me to experience a broad and diverse range of clients from all walks of life. I have experience of working within an alcohol and drug addiction centre and as a counsellor in the primary care sector in GP surgeries.

I can help with relationship issues, feelings of depression, anxiety, panic, bereavement, loss, stillbirth, termination, phobias, work related stress, specific mental health or loss of meaning.

Working in the voluntary sector I have supported clients and carers whose lives have been impacted by cancer and in turmoil by an unknown future. I work within a Woman’s centre with self referring clients struggling to come to terms with domestic, sexual or emotional abuse.

Areas of counselling I deal with

Abortion

Abuse

Addiction(s)

ADHD

Alcoholism

Anxiety

Attachment disorder

Bereavement

Bullying

Cancer Carer support

Child related issues

Depression

Drug Abuse

Domestic violence

Eating disorders

Emotional abuse

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)

Low self-confidence

Low self-esteem

Miscarriage

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

Panic disorder

Personality disorders

Phobias

Physical abuse

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Postnatal depression

Pregnancy and birth

Redundancy

Relationship issues

Sexual abuse

Stress

Suicidal thoughts

Trauma

Work related stress

Therapies offered

Cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]

Humanistic therapies

Integrative

Person-centred therapy

Psychodynamic therapy

Transactional analysis

Fees

First Consultation

I offer a reduced consultation fee of £35 for an approximate one and half hour session which is an opportunity for us to meet and discuss your concerns and to ensure you feel comfortable and confident working together.

What can you expect?

The consultation provides an opportunity for you to gain an understanding of what you can expect from a counselling session and resolve questions to help alleviating any fear or stigma. Subsequent sessions are £40 for a 50 minute counselling session.

Concessions

I may be able to offer a reduced fee for low income and unemployed clients. I will do my best to help.

Contact

People at times can undermine or feel that what they are going through is not important or relevant enough,compared to others. We are all individuals and your concerns are relative and meaningful if it is blocking or getting in the way of your sense of emotional or physiological wellbeing. Whether you feel the need to deal with a particular crisis or trauma or want help with more general issues, I offer both short term focused sessions and on-going counselling.

If you feel you would benefit from this form of counselling or like to explore further please feel free to contact me.

Thoughts, musings, and ruminations.

When you trust me with your personal data, I take my responsibility to protect it very seriously. I respect privacy, and your rights to control your personal data. With that in mind, my privacy policy describes how I look after and use any information you may give me, either as a client, a prospective client, someone who has communicated with me about my services, or as a visitor to my website

As a sole trader, I (Leila Jackson) am the Data Controller and I am required to register with the ICO. [Information Commissioner’s Office]

Reasons for Collection of Information

I am only allowed to collect personal information for proper and lawful reasons. At every stage of my relationship with you, your information will only be processed if it meets at least one of the following conditions.

To fulfil my counselling agreement with you. This includes the collection of information before we enter into an explicit or implicit counselling agreement, during your counselling and after the counselling has concluded.

To ensure I am giving you a professional and ethical service that complies with the Codes of Practice of the professional organisations I am a member of, and the requirements of my insurers.

When it is my legal duty to collect, store, use or transfer information in order to comply with legislation or the instructions of a court of law

When it is required to maintain my own safety, your safety or the safety of third parties.

To enable financial transactions between us

How Information is Collected

The personal identifiable information I collect, store and use comes entirely from our conversations, emails, texts and phone calls.

The information others may hold comes from our online communication and/or from financial transactions between us.

ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact information. You agree to inform your ICE contacts that you have given their information to me and have their consent for this. (NB. You do not need to gain explicit consent from your GP.)

Contracts & Consents. Information about Contracts & Consent such as signed letters of consent.

Information required to fulfil the counselling agreement between us.

Information about financial transactions between us

Anonymised information I hold

Information derived from sessions (Case notes)

Third Parties may also hold information gathered through your interactions with me.

Information about financial transactions between us

Information derived from the location of our phones. Modern Smartphone applications upload the location of the phone to the application server. This can result in applications such as Facebook deriving a connection between us.

Storage of Information

I store information in two forms, digitally [D] and in paper form [PF] *Kept in a locked filing cabinet]

Emails - These are held on a laptop, phone

SMS Texts -These are held on a phone

Contact information - Held on Phone and in *paper form

Calendar appointments in paper form

Anonymised case notes and information from sessions. On a laptop password protected and /or in *paper form.

Letters, signed consents and agreements, sociodemographic information. This is held separately to the case notes also in a locked cabinet.

Anonymised Information about financial transactions (bank statements). This is held digitally and separately to the above.

Third Parties may hold information in any form.

Sharing of Information

I do not and will not sell your data to third parties

Who I may share personally identifiable information with

Statutory bodies when required to by law or instruction of a court of law

Your emergency contacts in case of an emergency

Statutory bodies when required to avoid harm to you, me or others

My accrediting/ethical membership body, insurers and professional advisers in the case of you making a complaint against me

My professional executor, in the case of my incapacity or death.

Who I share anonymised personal information with

Clinical Supervisors in order to ensure I am operating effectively and ethically

Other Counsellors who are members of a Professional Register in order to gain insight and information from others who may be more experienced than me.

How long will I keep your information

I will keep your information for a variety of lengths of time depending on how it is held

Digital Information - emails, texts, messages deleted after counselling ends. For technical reasons this information cannot be entirely erased and could therefore remain accessible to a technically competent person until the storage device is destroyed or securely wiped and reformatted. Case notes deleted by me after 3 years.

Paper information – Case Notes and paper copies of contact information, emails will be shredded 3 years after counselling ends. Paper information gathered during the introductory session will be shredded after 14 days if you have not contacted me to arrange paid sessions.

Marketing

I will never use your information for marketing, or contact you to market a service to you unless you have specifically given consent in writing